How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

I am thinking about trying to refinish my wood floors and wondered if I am crazy for even thinking I can do this on my own.? I am never going to be able to afford to pay some one else to do it, and I have been reading alot on the internet and watching alot of videos. It doesn't look too hard to me and I figured if I screw it up, it couldn't possibly look worse than it does now. Any thoughts?

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How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

You're asking a loaded question. No one knows what you are capable of....good or bad. The best you can do is find out all of the steps involved, what tools you need, determine your budget and realize you can ruin the floor to the point that it needs to be replaced if you mess up bad enough.
Now, after researching all of that, ask yourself if you think you can do it!

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How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

If you have never operated a drum sander, don't even consider it. One heartbeat of inattantion with that and there is a hole in the floor. Big box stores do rent a more DIY friendly sander with rotating heads. But I still question the wisdom of trying it if you have never done it.

How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

its a learn'd skill ( over yrs/sq ft ) mix'd w/art as is lotsa stuff in the trades,,, sure you can do it BUT be prepared for some snag,,, if you can, try the oscillating sanders 1st,,, whatever you choose, w/o good dust collection & decent wet/dry vac, be prepared to be see/find dust for generations

How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessieflow

I am thinking about trying to refinish my wood floors and wondered if I am crazy for even thinking I can do this on my own.? I am never going to be able to afford to pay some one else to do it, and I have been reading alot on the internet and watching alot of videos. It doesn't look too hard to me and I figured if I screw it up, it couldn't possibly look worse than it does now. Any thoughts?

If the floor is not in absolutely terrible shape, in the old days people would use household buffers and steel wool to essentially clean rather than remove a lot of material then they would buff them with Johnson's paste wax. As someone said, those floor sanders require a lot of skill and practice. I don't know if they still make those household buffers anymore since they started using artificial finishes on wood floors.

How hard is it to refinish a hardwood floor?

You can do it. But the type of sanders mentioned here will make a difference. The old way was with a drum sander and an edging sander. But with these you should leave it to the pros. The new ones have 3 orbiting heads. Will do the same quality job as the other sanders, but takes a slight bit longer. What you need to know... do not skip sanding steps. Every grit is needed. The coarsest one to start depends on how bad your floor is. Start with 100, are all the scratches being removed... if not go up to 80 grit. It okay 100 then 120 then 150 you are done. Vacuum with a powerful machine and a hepa filter. Use water based sealer first (two coats) sanding with a pole sander and 220 grit paper very lightly between every coat. Then follow with top coat. The higher the sheen the more any imperfections will show. To apply the finish use one continous strock from wall to wall. Use a pole and foam pad. (lambs wool is for oil based).